Table Of ContentCH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page I
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page II
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page III
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/31/03 7:47 AM Page IV
Disclaimer
The recommendations, advice, descriptions, and the methods in this book are presented
solely for educational purposes. The author and publisher assume no liability whatsoever for
any loss or damage that results from the use of any of the material in this book. Use of the
material in this book is solely at the risk of the user.
Copyright© 2003 by
PennWell Corporation
1421 South Sheridan Road
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74112-6600 USA
800.752.9764
+1.918.831.9421
[email protected]
www.FireEngineeringBooks.com
www.pennwellbooks.com
www.pennwell.com
Marketing Manager: Julie Simmons
National Account Executive: Francie Halcomb
Director: Mary McGee
Managing Editor: Jared Wicklund
Production / Operations Manager: Traci Huntsman
Production Editor: Sue Rhodes Dodd
Cover Designer: Clark Bell
Book Designer: Amy Spehar
Author: Kolomay, Richard
Book Title: Firefighter rescue & survival / by Richard Kolomay and Robert Hoff.--1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN13 978-0-87814-829-5
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
2 3 4 5 09 08 07
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page V
ontents
C
FOREWORD _____________________________________________VIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS_____________________________________XI
INTRODUCTION_________________________________________ XV
chapter one
Proactive Firefighting Tactics and Training__________________1
Injury and Death Statistics _____________________________________1
Proactive Fire Service Leadership _______________________________4
Proactive Company Officer Training____________________________13
chapter two
Rapid Intervention Operations ____________________________19
Combat Ready______________________________________________19
Risk vs. Benefit _____________________________________________20
RIT Staging_________________________________________________24
Rapid Intervention Size-Up Operations_________________________26
Rapid Intervention Checklist __________________________________44
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ____________________________46
chapter three
Rapid Intervention Deployment Operations________________49
The Recon Team ____________________________________________49
The RIT Sector Officer and the RIT Rescue Sector ________________51
Firefighter and RIT Accountability______________________________58
Rapid Intervention Radio Communications______________________61
Rapid Intervention Tool Selection______________________________62
chapter four
Firefighter Survival Rules_________________________________71
Rule 1: Know when and how to call for help: “Mayday!”_________71
Rule 2: Never give up! ______________________________________81
Rule 3: Think outside of the box.______________________________82
Rule 4: It is advised not to share your SCBA air._________________83
Rule 5: Keep control of the fire if at all possible. ________________84
|V|
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VI
| |
Firefighter Rescue and Survival TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter five
Firefighter Survival Emergencies__________________________87
Entanglement Emergencies____________________________________87
SCBA Basic Training for Disentanglement Survival Training ________88
SCBA Self-Removal Techniques for Disentanglement______________94
SCBA Shared-Air Emergency Methods__________________________96
RIT Shared-Air Methods for Rescue___________________________100
Forcible Exit – Wall Breach__________________________________101
Hang-Drop Method ________________________________________102
Emergency Ladder Escape___________________________________103
Emergency Rappel Methods _________________________________110
chapter six
Search Operations for Missing and Lost Firefighters_____117
Basic Search Operations ____________________________________118
Thermal Imaging Camera ___________________________________126
Wide-Area Search Operations _______________________________127
chapter seven
Firefighter Rescue Removal Methods ____________________149
A Case Study in Frustration__________________________________151
Initial Firefighter Rescue Steps _______________________________154
Communication among Firefighter Rescuers ___________________160
Firefighter Rescue Drag Methods_____________________________160
Unconscious Firefighter SCBA Removal _______________________169
chapter eight
Upper- and Lower-level and
Confined-Space Rescue Methods_________________________173
Narrow-Staircase Firefighter Rescues__________________________175
Wide-Staircase Firefighter Rescues____________________________181
Ground Ladders and Firefighter Rescues_______________________184
Firefighter Victim Lifts_______________________________________187
Lower-Level Firefighter Rescues______________________________195
Confined-Space Firefighter Rescues___________________________204
|VI|
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VII
| |
TABLE OF CONTENTS Firefighter Rescue and Survival
chapter nine
Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training Methods__211
Instructor Credibility and Relevance ____________________211
Eight Essential Instruction Points for
Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training_______________212
Preparing Firefighters for Rescue and Survival Training_____217
Training Scenarios ___________________________________225
Training Scenario #1: Search and disentanglement of a
conscious firefighter victim__________________________225
Training Scenario #2: Search, disentanglement, and window
rescue (boots first) of an unconscious firefighter victim __226
Training Scenario #3: Search and rescue of an
unconscious firefighter victim who fell into a basement._227
Training Scenario #4: Search and rescue of a lost and
unconscious firefighter victim in a large warehouse fire__228
Training Scenario #5: Window rescue of an unconscious
firefighter victim in a second floor window ____________229
Training Scenario #6: Wide-staircase rescue of an
unconscious victim and a conscious victim from the
second floor of an apartment building ________________230
Training Scenario #7: Narrow-staircase rescue of two
unconscious firefighter victims from a basement fire ____231
Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training Safety Points______232
EPILOGUE—THE CALL_________________________________233
NOTES__________________________________________________235
GLOSSARY_____________________________________________237
BIBLIOGRAPHY________________________________________241
INDEX __________________________________________________243
|VII|
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VIII
| |
Firefighter Rescue and Survival FOREWORD
Foreword
When Rick Kolomay and Bob Hoff first asked me to write this foreword for their book, I
was moved to consider the state of firefighter rescue and survival training today…and reflect
on how we’ve adjusted in the more than 32 years I’ve spent in the fire service. Indeed, we’ve
made great strides. I remember the first working fire I ever fought, which was a serious cellar
fire in a house in my hometown. During the course of the fire, a good friend of mine, Andy,
was overcome with smoke while advancing the attack hoseline. Some hot wiring had melted
through the low pressure breathing tube on his facepiece and cut off his air supply. The neg-
ative pressure mask was useless and he was now sucking in a lot of hot, nasty smoke. He
made it as far as the base of the staircase before losing consciousness. Several chaotic min-
utes later, he was removed, unconscious but still alive, to the safety of the front lawn, where
he was joined by several injured rescuers. “So, this is part of the job too?” I thought. “Besides
rescuing civilians, we also rescue firemen. OK, if that’s all there is to it, we can do that!” How
simple those thoughts were in hindsight.
It was almost 20 years later, after having been involved in several more removals of
unconscious firefighters, before the magnitude and nature of the skills required began to be
recognized for what they are: among the most difficult tasks one can ever encounter on the
fireground. I was working as a lieutenant in Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn. We had
removed unconscious firefighters up from cellars of factories and supermarkets, down from
the floors above the fire in tenements, and out the window of a feather factory. All of these
resulted in the survival of the unconscious members, but they all could have gone smoother.
In one case, two of the rescuers were injured in the process. During our critiques of the oper-
ations, the members made many useful suggestions, then we went down into the firehouse
cellar or to a vacant building and tried them out, with full gear, live victims, and blacked out
facepieces. Most of the ideas worked, some did not. After a while, I began to think we were
ready for anything. Then someone sent me a magazine article that is responsible for a
tremendous change in the way firefighter rescue is approached today. It is not always a suc-
cessful, almost routine effort as many of us were approaching the task. Instead, “The Murder
of John Nance” showed the true nature of the task as a brutal, heart-wrenching affair, that
may or may not be successful.
The article was first printed in The Columbus (Ohio) Monthly in December 1987, and
was over two years old when I first read it in 1990. The description of the heroic rescue
attempts at extreme personal risk by the members of the Columbus Fire Department sends
chills up and down my spine every time I read it. Here was a group of men who went through
|VIII|
